Ryan Stone
The Hon. Dr. Cleaver Ryan Stone, PhD, GMM, usually known as Ryan Stone (b. 16th January 1948) is a Georgeland politician, journalist, academic and writer who was the 18th Governor of Bradmarch from 1997 until 2000 and is currently Leader of Reform , a Senator from Bradmarch , Minister for Constitutional Affairs and Political Reform, Special Minister of State, and Leader of the Government in the Senate. He had been a presidential candidate before his election to the Senate in 2016, after which he launched Reform. In 2019 he led Reform into national government in coalition with the Georgeland Alliance. Born in Stratton, Bradmarch, Stone was the son of a police officer who had fought in the Second World War as an infantryman. Stone attended a boarding school until 1965, and in 1966 applied to attend the Georgeland Defence Force Academy. He was accepted as a air force cadet and graduated in 1970 with a degree in engineering and the rank of Flight Officer. Stone was honourably discharged from the air force in 1976 as a Wing Commander and completed a PhD in military history from the University of Mainland in 1979. He was a Professor of Military History at the University of Long Island from 1984 until 1988. In 1988 he accepted a post as Dean of History at the University of Bradmarch and became its Vice-Chancellor in 1991. As Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Stone gained a reputation for economic management and as a spokesman for education issues. He was highly critical of the Jonas government's education policies and resigned as Vice-Chancellor in 1996 in protest at the cutting of the university's budget by 15%. The following year he ran for Governor of Bradmarch and was elected with 42% of the vote. As Governor, Stone was visible and popular, but his education stance, as well as his positions on social issues such as abortion and gay rights, put him at odds with the very conservative Jonas government. In particular, a minor crisis erupted in 1999 when Stone initially suggested he would not give his assent to a law which would have denied adoption rights to same-sex couples. Stone eventually relented and signed the law, despite making his views clear. In 2000 the first election under Bradmarch's new electoral laws, creating fixed-terms for the legislature and the Governor, was held. Unusually for a gubernatorial campaign, and somewhat contraversially, Jonas endorsed one of Stone's opponents in the election, James McConnell over the incumbent. The election was won by Francine McKinnon, against whom Stone had run in 1997. Stone gained 26% of the vote compared to 34% for McConnell and 37% for McKinnon. After leaving office, Stone continued his academic career and became a Research Fellow at the University of Mainland and a Visiting Fellow in Military History at the University of Topstad. In 2005 he was a guest lecturer at the Defence Force Academy. In November 2007, Dr. Stone declared his intention to run for President. Stone's candidacy came as a surprise to many. He was not expected to pose a serious threat to the major party candidates, but gained just under six per cent of the vote, after a campaign based around the theme of political independence and experience. Stone's preferences largely helped to elected Lois Daniels as President, as the two had declared a preference-swapping deal. In a speech after the presidential election, Stone declared he would run for Governor of Bradmarch once again, in August, based on the significant support he attracted in his home state. He narrowly lost to Rebecca Williams by a 1.6% margin. Stone declined to run for President again in 2012, but hinted at a return to politics. This proved true when Stone declared his candidacy for the Senate in 2016. At the poll he was elected sixth as an Independent. Taking office on 1 January 2017, Stone focused on political reform, anti-corruption, and constitutional changes. He voted against the confirmation of Campbell Rhodes as president, and suggested the nepotism behind the appointment proved there was need for a new anti-corruption body. After the mass defections from the Liberal Democrats as fallout from the appointment, Stone formed Reform . He was elected the party's leader, and appointed Edwina Haggard as deputy leader and the party's leader in the House of Commons. In 2019 Stone voted for the change to proportional representation in the Commons following the 2022 election. After the 2019 election, after which Reform and the Alliance formed a government, Stone was appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate and the minister in charge of constitutional affairs and reforms. Under normal circumstances he would, as leader of the smaller coalition party, have become Deputy Prime Minister of Georgeland , but at his own request Haggard, as a member of the House of Commons, was appointed to that role instead. Stone ranks third in the order of precedence behind Prime Minister Tom Elderton and Haggard. On 2 November 2019, Stone announced the government would hold a referendum in 2020 on whether or not to return to an appointed presidency, to take effect after the 2020 election. Category:Georgeland Category:Individuals Category:Georgeland politicians